Actor Danny Masterson, who is a prison sentence of 30 years to life in prison, is trying to overturn his conviction for the rape of two women, with his lawyers claiming he did not receive a fair trial.
A Los Angeles jury last year found Masterson guilty of two counts of rape by force or fear for assaulting two women at his Hollywood Hills home in separate incidents in 2003 — around the same time he was starring in the That Fox TV’s ’70s Show. The jury deadlocked in the case involving a third alleged victim. The May 2023 trial followed a mistrial in November 2022.
Masterson, 48, is being held at California Men’s Colony, a minimum- and medium-security prison in San Luis Obispo County.
Cliff Gardner, the attorney handling Masterson’s appeal, filed an opening brief Tuesday alleging that witnesses have told different versions of their stories over time. The letter also states that evidence that would have helped Masterson’s defense was not presented because of what Gardner describes as incorrect rulings by the court. Gardner argues in the lawsuits that these factors support overturning the convictions.
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Masterson’s defense argued at trial that he knew both women socially and that his sexual relations with them were consensual.
“It is of course true that a suspect is not entitled to a perfect trial. However, he is still entitled to a fair trial,” the letter reads. ‘Danny Masterson received neither. Chargeback is required.’
During the trial, one of the female Mastersons was later convicted of rape broke down on the witness stand as she testified that he strangled and smothered her with a pillow when she tried to fight back as he attacked her, according to the Associated Press.
“I couldn’t breathe,” she said, crying.
When the prosecutor asked what she was thinking at that moment, she said she feared for her life, AP reports.
“That he was going to kill me,” she said. “That I would die.”
She later testified that Masterson pulled a gun from his bedside table and told her to be quiet when they heard voices at the door. She told jurors she was in and out of consciousness all night.
Masterson and the victims were members of the Church of Scientology, which became central to the case as the women claimed they were stalked and harassed after reporting the allegations to police.
She Masterson and the Church Years Indicted previously in connection with these allegations.
During the trial, Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller told jurors that the church retaliated against the victims for reporting the crimes — the April 2003 rape of a 28-year-old woman and the assault of a 23-year-old woman, and also that year.
“What happened after they were drugged, they were raped by this man right here,” Mueller said, pointing around the courtroom toward Masterson during closing arguments. ‘You have the opportunity to show that justice exists. It does exist.’
The church released a statement at the time refuting the allegations.
“The Church has no policy that prohibits or discourages members from reporting criminal conduct by anyone, Scientologists or otherwise, to law enforcement,” the statement reads. “On the contrary, Church policy explicitly requires Scientologists to comply with all laws of the land. Any accusations to the contrary are completely false.”
In the newly filed brief for Masterson’s appeal, Gardner claims the victims have “dramatically” changed their stories over the years and had a financial motive for doing so. Gardner argues in court documents that although the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit for damages had expired before trial, it would be revived under state law if Masterson was convicted of forcible rape involving multiple victims.
Gardner says in the letter that a court ruling prevented evidence related to that argument from being admitted at trial.
He also states in court filings that some witnesses died before the case went to trial, more than a decade after they were reported to law enforcement, and claims that police lost a tape-recorded witness interview that Masterson’s defense would have helped.
After the six-day trial that resulted in Masterson’s convictions, one of the women he was convicted of raping released a statement saying she was relieved. he had been found guilty.
“I am experiencing a complex range of emotions – relief, exhaustion, strength, sadness – knowing that my abuser, Danny Masterson, will be held accountable for his criminal conduct,” said a statement from one of the women against whom Masterson was convicted of rape . his home in 2003.
